Not all terms that appear on wine labels have concrete meanings. Some appear on labels due to the discretion of the winemaker or, in the worst cases, a particular term can be used merely as a marketing tool to sway consumer opinion. Several, like Reserve and Selection, and their many variations like Special Reserve, Private Reserve, Vintner's Reserve, Proprietor's Reserve, Special Selection, Estate Selection, and Vintner's Selection, to name a few, have no legal definition and therefore can’t always be relied upon to tell you much about the quality of the wine in the bottle. Another such term is Old Vines.

French wine producers first started using the term (Vielles Vignes in French) to designate wines originating from vines that survived the phylloxera epidemic, which devastated most vineyards in France in the late 1800s. Many winemakers do truly believe that 50- to 100-year-old vines produce better grapes because the roots of these vines penetrate deep into the earth, picking up minerals and nutrients from various strata of soil. The amount of grape bunches vines produce decreases with age, so old vines, with their lower yields, are thought to produce better grapes because more minerals, nutrients, and sugars are packed into fewer grapes making flavors more concentrated. Old vines are also thought to have achieved equilibrium with their environments and are not as susceptible to the effects of drought, disease, or other extreme environmental anomalies, theoretically producing grapes of consistent quality from vintage to vintage.

These days you can find wines from all over the globe with Old Vines displayed proudly on their labels. As vines in Europe grow older expect to see the term appear more often on European wines. However, the truth is that some of the oldest vines in the world are in areas that are considered the New World. Australia and California boast some very old vines, and Chile, a country that has never suffered a phylloxera infestation, is home to some of the oldest vines in the world. There is no law however that dictates how old a vine has to be before wine produced from its fruit can be labeled Old Vines, so it’s possible—although not likely—to be duped.

Not all winemakers are convinced that old vines produce better grapes. Many firmly believe that vines producing their first crop of fruit at about three or four years old are responsible for the best wines in the world. There is certainly some truth to this, but alas a vine is young only once. Old vines on the other hand seem to be consistently responsible for better wines than their middle-aged brethren. When it comes to wines and vines, older is generally considered to be better. If only we were so lucky.